Today I lit a candle before the icon of Saint Nicholas for an old friend, Mihai, with whom I used to go to football matches for 20 years. We chatted briefly and haven't spoken much since, but I still think of him. True friendship holds even when it is silent, so I prayed a little for him.

Just finished morning coffee and opened St. Nectarios on the soul again before heading to choir practice. He says real peace comes when you stop chasing every little thing that upsets you and simply hand it over. Made me think about how I still fret over the kids’ schedules even though they’re both in college now. Simple stuff, but it stuck with me today.

Archbishop Makarios arrived in Adelaide to mark the 65th anniversary of the Port Adelaide parish, drawing clergy and laity from across Australia for the weekend liturgies. At the same time, Bishop Michael of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand observed his name day with services that highlighted the quiet work of monasteries in the region. In the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Nikola led the Divine Liturgy at the St Demetrius monastery in Springvale, while another Macedonian bishop served at the Prohor Pcinjski monastery in Donnybrook. The Bulgarian Church held an archierarchal Liturgy for the feast at the Shiyakovski monastery of St Archangel Michael, reminding everyone how these houses of prayer keep marking steady decades of life. May the Lord grant many years of fruitful service to all the monasteries and their communities.

In Greece, church musicians are drawing fresh energy from newly published prayer books that align closely with traditional psaltic modes. Several choirs have begun incorporating these texts during rehearsals for upcoming feasts, blending older Byzantine notation with clearer Romanian and Arabic translations for mixed congregations. The Church of Greece marked the feast of Saint Nektarios with solemn Vespers at Vatopedino Metohi in Porto Lagos, where local chanters tested passages from the updated books and reported smoother transitions between troparia. At the same time, the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric saw Metropolitan Nikola serve at the Monastery of Saint Demetrius in Springvale, with the choir relying on the same new editions to handle the expanded saint’s service without hesitation. Across the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarchal Liturgy for Archangel’s Day in the village of Studena featured a youth ensemble that had trained exclusively on the revised psaltic scores, giving the responses a crisp, unified sound. Meanwhile the Ecumenical Patriarchate hosted an honorary event for the memory of martyred Abdellas, during which cantors from Constantinople parishes demonstrated how the fresh prayer books help younger singers master complex melismas more quickly. The shift feels practical.

Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki received special veneration on his feast day. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia marked the memory of the Myrrh-Streamer with services across its parishes. In the Macedonian Orthodox Church–Ohrid Archbishopric, Metropolitan Nikola led Divine Liturgy at the Monastery of St Demetrius of Salonica in Springvale. The Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) celebrated the patronal feast at the Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius in the village of Gorodnya, Batetsky District, while the Serbian Orthodox Church observed Mitrovdan with traditional gatherings in Nevesinje. Elsewhere, several jurisdictions kept the coinciding Synaxis of the Archangels. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church held an archierarchal Liturgy at the Shiyakovski Monastery of St Archangel Michael, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate noted the Feast of the Meeting of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in its dioceses. Small communities kept the rhythm of ordinary parish life amid the saints’ days. The calendar quietly joins warriors and angels in one day.

The last few weeks on the job I've been skipping lunch to stay on the fast and it's starting to wear me down by three o'clock. Anybody else figure out a simple lunch that travels well in a cooler and still keeps the rules? I usually end up with a peanut butter sandwich but that gets old fast.

We face a challenge: our daughter is nine years old, and she prays in the morning and evening, but it’s clear that she does so with reluctance. I, too, as a child, used to shrug off my parents’ requests for prayer, and now I regret it. How do you teach your children to pray without forcing them, and make it genuine?

The feast of Archangel Michael and All the Bodiless Powers drew large crowds to churches across several countries this week. In Bulgaria, Patriarch Daniel presided over a patriarchal liturgy at the village of Studena, where hundreds of faithful marked Archangel’s Day with traditional hymns and prayers. Serbian Orthodox parishes in Nevesinje observed Mitrovdan with solemn services that also honored the memory of the Great Martyr Demetrius, blending the two nearby feasts. The Orthodox Church in America’s Metropolis of Atlanta celebrated its patronal feast at the Archangel Michael parish, while clergy and laity in the Diocese of New York and New Jersey used the occasion to introduce a new online system for sharing parish news. Romanian monasteries, including Clocociov, held all-night vigils focused on the same synaxis of the Archangels. These gatherings show how one feast quietly unites distant communities. How did your own parish keep the feast of the Archangels this year?

The St Xenia Sisterhood from the London Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia recently completed a pilgrimage to Hastings, joining local faithful for prayer and fellowship at a parish there. At the same time, Romanian Orthodox communities in London hosted a group of visiting sisters from a nearby diocese, sharing meals and discussing ways to support each other’s youth programs. In Michigan, Bishop Andrei of the Orthodox Church in America led the Divine Liturgy at Dormition Monastery, drawing pilgrims from several Midwest parishes who stayed for talks on building stronger local communities. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Church marked Archangel’s Day with an archierarchical liturgy at the Shiyakovski Monastery of St Michael, where visitors from neighboring dioceses exchanged icons and prayer books. These quiet exchanges of people and traditions keep distant parishes linked in ordinary, practical ways.

The St Xenia Sisterhood from the London Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia recently completed a pilgrimage to Hastings, joining local faithful for prayer and fellowship at a coastal parish. In the same spirit, the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Archbishop Makarios traveled to Adelaide to mark the 65th anniversary of the Port Adelaide church, where clergy and laity from several jurisdictions gathered for the celebration. Meanwhile the Romanian Orthodox Church’s Metropolitan Iosif visited a construction site in France to bless a new cultural center for Romanian families, strengthening ties between scattered communities. The Orthodox Church in America’s Mississippi River Deanery also held a retreat that drew growing parishes together for mutual encouragement and shared worship. These visits and pilgrimages quietly knit distant congregations closer through common feasts and simple hospitality. May the parishes of London, Hastings, Adelaide, and the Romanian faithful in France be granted steady peace and fruitful fellowship.

The memory of Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki drew faithful to services in several corners of the Orthodox world this week. In the Serbian Orthodox Church, Mitrovdan was marked with liturgy in Nevesinje where families gathered after the Divine Liturgy for a modest communal meal. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia observed the saint’s feast on the traditional calendar with special hymns at its London cathedral, while the Moscow Patriarchate noted the approaching 200th anniversary of the oldest church in Soroca dedicated to him. Bulgarian parishes kept the nearby Archangel Michael feast with hierarchical liturgies at Shiyakovski Monastery and village churches, blending the two celebrations in local custom. The Church of Greece held services at Nafplion’s cemetery chapel of the Holy Taxiarchs, and the Romanian Church listed the saint alongside other November commemorations in its synaxarion. These local observances continue quietly from one diocese to the next.

During the liturgy this week, the little George from the third row stayed most in my mind as he sang the Lord's Prayer with his delicate voice, precisely to me. So pure and serious that for a moment all around us smiled. Then I thought that my little one, who is five years old, will soon start singing like that with his voice.

On Saturday after the liturgy, we agreed with several of our parishioners to visit Tikhvin for one day. I finally want to see the icon with my own eyes, and at the same time, walk around the monastery. If anyone wants to join, write me a private message; there are still a couple of seats in the car.